News

The New Zealand government is to fund a NZ $ 10 million investment in additional speed cameras in a bid to improve road safety nationally. The ratio of speed cameras per 0.1mn people stands at 1.3 compared to 2.5 and 4.8 in the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria, respectively. The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) will use the government cash to increase the number of speed cameras from 55 to at least by 2015.

Povolzhupravtodor, a subsidiary of the Russian Federal Highway Agency, has announced a tender for major repairs of a 25km long section of Russia’s M5 Ural highway in the Samara area of Volga. The contract is estimated to be worth US $ 43.16 million.

In a bid to maintain services and reduce travel times for the Transantiago public transport system, the Chilean government will invest US $ 41.62 million in repairing and upgrading nearly 150km of roads in Santiago. Works are expected to be completed in 2013 and will include 31 different districts across the capital.

Work has begun on constructing a US $ 1.2 billion 144km highway between Zhengzhou and Zhoukou in China. The highway has a designed speed of 120km/hour and a width of 28m.

Taxis in Saudi Arabia must equipped with an Automated Vehicle Locators (AVL) system, as part of new regulations set to be introduced on 22 October, 2012. The AVL will record the drop-off and pick-up location of the taxis as well as their driving speed. Taxi firms will also need to include minimum third-party insurance coverage for each driver and vehicle.

In China, the news that the construction industry has been waiting for came with an announcement over infrastructure spending. The Chinese Government said it will invest heavily in infrastructure spending, particularly in extending the country’s high speed rail network. The news brought a flurry of trading on the Chinese stock market, seeing share price gains for various major Chinese construction equipment manufacturers including LiuGong, Sany and Shantui.

The ContiTech Power Transmission Group has pledged to continue its fight against product and brand counterfeiters after counterfeit V-ribbed belts, destined for passenger cars and sports utility vehicles (SUV), were discovered in a warehouse in Casablanca, Morocco. The retailer had already prepared them for sale but, after a tip-off from ContiTech, local authorities seized the belts and had them destroyed. The retailer now faces legal prosecution.

The European Commission (EC) has launched a new award that encourages the adoption of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) by local and regional authorities. Under the inaugural theme 'stakeholder and citizen participation', local and regional authorities can submit their SUMPs for award consideration at www.dotherightmix.eu

Spanish construction firm, OHL, has presented an offer to operate the 56km Guadalajara-Colima motorway in Mexico for 12 years. The motorway is being heavily restructured, with the expansion of its four lanes. The first phase of these works has already been completed and investment to date has totalled US $ 54.81million. A further $ 263.66 million is being invested by Banobras on current works. Offers to operate the Guadalajara-Colima motorway must be presented by mid-September 2012.

Spending on road maintenance differs greatly between Swedish municipalities, a report by Svevia has shown. Malmö municipality was the highest spender in Sweden with € 295.53 spent per resident, which compared with the country's lowest spending municipality Berg, where € 14.27 per resident was invested in road maintenance.

To generate savings on motorways Transport Minister, Frédéric Cuvillier, may ask the three largest operators (Vinci Autoroutes, APRR, Sanef-SAPN) to take on maintenance and renovation spending on certain sections in exchange for concession extensions. Motorways in Ile-de-France and stretches of motorways around Paris (A6, A10 and A13) could be among the first to be subject to the new maintenance and renovation arrangements. Negotiations will start with ASFA (Association des Société Françaises d'Autoroutes).

The Rubberised Asphalt Foundation (RAF) is creating an online clearinghouse for rubberised asphalt documentation and research. The online database will have various data and will be updated with latest developments in rubberised asphalt processes and technologies.

Around 10,000km of Russia’s roads will be repaired annually from 2014 according to Igor Astakhov, head of road operation and safety at the country’s Federal Highway Agency. Astakhov also said that the federal road network would fully meet quality requirements in Russia by late 2017. Currently, Russian authorities repair 6,600km per annum, around 1.5 times less than required. Only about 39% of the road network is said to be in a satisfactory condition.

Representatives from leading global construction equipment manufacturers are among those being urged to attend a summit where they can learn how to get involved in US $ 300 billion worth of infrastructure projects, including major road building works, set to take place in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Mega Infrastructure Projects Summit, being held between 16 and 18 September, 2012